Transcript [00:01] We are continuing to broadcast from [00:03] this place, which is one of the many [00:05] sites that were at the heart of the [00:07] brutal attack and the massacre on [00:09] October 7th. Among the first to arrive [00:14] at the various scenes—and there were [00:17] many scenes—was Danny Shtekman, an [00:19] MADA paramedic and one of the first [00:21] responders on that cursed morning. [00:25] Hello, thank you very much for joining [00:27] us. [00:29] >> First of all, let's start by trying to [00:31] describe your location on that morning [00:33] of October 7th. Where were you, and [00:35] what was the first call you received— [00:37] what were you seeing with your own eyes [00:38] ? How did it all begin? [00:40] >> So, on the morning of October 7th, I [00:42] was supposed to work the morning shift [00:44] at the MADA station in Ofakim. [00:45] >> Yes. [00:46] >> I woke up to an alarm, had my coffee, [00:49] and as soon as I left the house, the [00:51] sirens started. I didn't understand [00:54] what was happening. I went back home. I [00:57] closed the windows in the safe room. [00:59] Yes. [01:00] >> I made sure my family was okay, and [01:02] after seeing that the sirens weren't [01:04] stopping, I just told everyone goodbye [01:06] and headed toward Ofakim. [01:09] >> Without an order, without instructions, [01:11] without anything explicit. [01:13] >> Our routine is very clear; going from [01:15] zero to 100 for us is fast. [01:19] >> We are committed to the work and to the [01:21] citizens. We know what we are supposed [01:26] to do, and as I was heading to Ofakim, [01:28] I called the dispatcher to give initial [01:30] instructions—a rapid transition from [01:32] routine to emergency—and told them [01:34] not to release the night shift. [01:38] >> Yes. When can we actually talk about [01:41] the first abnormal incident, and what [01:43] was it? [01:45] >> The first incident was at 7:14 AM, when [01:48] I was already with a wounded child who [01:50] had been shot near Re'im in the [01:52] ambulance. I started... [01:55] >> It wasn't from rockets; it was already [01:57] gunfire, the actual infiltration. [02:00] >> Yes, he and his escorts said our [02:02] soldiers shot at them, and that was [02:04] also unclear. I was already running [02:08] through all sorts of scenarios in my [02:10] head. Dispatch asked if I could take [02:14] the lightly wounded patient and drive [02:16] toward the four seriously wounded [02:17] people reported in the area. [02:22] >> Yes, at that moment, or shortly after, [02:24] you yourselves end up in an ambush, and [02:27] the driver is shot in the leg. [02:31] >> Yes, I made the decision and reported [02:33] to dispatch that I was continuing [02:34] toward Re'im with my patient. [02:36] >> Yes. [02:37] >> And in the area of Re'im junction, I [02:39] heard bursts of gunfire. I didn't [02:40] understand where it was coming from, [02:42] and then, in a split second, the window [02:44] next to the driver shattered, and he [02:46] started screaming in pain. [02:48] >> Peter. [02:49] >> Peter was hit by a bullet in the leg. [02:52] >> Wow. [02:53] >> I heard strange noises and didn't [02:55] understand what was happening. Luckily [02:58] for us, that cell—four motorcycles [03:00] and a pickup truck—continued to [03:02] another target, and we weren't their [03:05] target. [03:06] >> How did you react to the ambulance [03:07] driver getting shot in the leg? [03:10] >> In those moments, it was shock; I [03:12] didn't understand how it happened. I [03:14] thought it was a stray bullet that [03:16] accidentally hit the ambulance, but the [03:18] driver saw those terrorists very [03:20] clearly—those riding the motorcycle. [03:22] >> Yes. With green headbands, and he said [03:26] they were terrorists, and that is what [03:28] I reported to dispatch. [03:30] >> Yes. [03:31] >> Even before I stopped to treat Peter, I [03:33] reported to dispatch that we had [03:35] encountered a cell of terrorists on [03:37] motorcycles and they were on their way [03:39] to Ofakim. [03:40] >> Certainly, your report caused quite a [03:42] few people to go into shock themselves, [03:44] because these were truly the first [03:46] moments, maybe the first hour, and the [03:48] scale of the infiltration was only [03:50] revealed little by little as a result [03:52] of these reports. Afterward, once he [03:56] receives help, you return—what we [03:58] call returning—to the battlefield. [04:02] >> Yes. The whole day was a bloody [04:05] battlefield from Ofakim and across the [04:07] Gaza border communities. Yes. [04:10] >> I evacuated Peter to another ambulance [04:12] to take him to the hospital. I returned [04:14] to Ofakim. I tried to understand what [04:17] happened and how there were terrorists [04:19] who shot at us. And I didn't have time [04:22] to process this event. They started [04:24] bringing the wounded to us at the MADA [04:26] station in Ofakim. [04:27] >> Yes. [04:28] >> At the MADA station in Ofakim, we made [04:31] a decision to open a treatment site, [04:33] and during the day we treated about 150 [04:36] wounded who arrived from Ofakim, or [04:38] from nearby, or from the Gaza envelope [04:40] communities. [04:42] >> Basically, and of course later during [04:44] the searches inside the communities, as [04:46] you say, it was something that didn't [04:48] end. It was something that continued. [04:52] How do you process this today, exactly [04:54] three years later? Who are you today, [04:57] three years later, compared to who you [04:59] were before? So, during that whole day, [05:04] we took ambulances and headed toward [05:06] the Gaza envelope communities and [05:08] treated dozens of wounded there who [05:10] managed to escape the hell. Today, [05:14] three years later, we are busy with [05:16] rebuilding. We received armored [05:19] ambulances as a donation, which we [05:21] stationed in the Gaza envelope [05:23] communities. We trained dozens of [05:28] volunteers and emergency response team [05:30] members to strengthen the community so [05:32] they could return home in peace and [05:34] comfort. Meaning, there are now people [05:39] inside the communities who are more [05:41] qualified, more knowledgeable, better [05:43] equipped, with armored ambulances that [05:46] will allow for rebuilding here in more [05:48] serenity. [05:48] >> Yes? [05:49] >> And with personal security for the [05:51] people who live here. [05:52] >> Yes. Since October 7th, after we [05:55] evacuated all the wounded and finished, [05:58] we sort of returned to a kind of [06:00] routine, to build ourselves a routine. [06:04] How—I really want to ask about you, [06:06] and through that perhaps reflect on [06:08] others who saw these things. [06:10] >> Well, I gained another new station in [06:13] Kerem Shalom. Magen David Adom opened a [06:17] new station in Kerem Shalom in order to [06:20] strengthen the envelope communities and [06:22] shorten response times. I am here, [06:26] working a lot, busy with training. [06:31] >> In connection with the community. [06:33] >> Work is therapy. [06:34] >> Yes. [06:35] >> Well, Shtekman, we said a strong man, [06:38] right? You are definitely a strong man. [06:42] We won't part ways before we mention [06:45] that seven MADA employees and [06:46] volunteers were murdered on that day, [06:48] and we want you, of course, to say a [06:50] few words. [06:54] >> Yes, two of my employees, staff of the [06:56] Ofakim station: Aharon Chaimov, who was [06:59] murdered at 7:00 AM while he left with [07:01] me from home in a Magen David Adom [07:03] ambulance; he was shot while inside the [07:06] ambulance and was murdered in Ofakim. [07:10] Amit Mann, our brave volunteer who [07:12] operated here at Kibbutz Re'im, even [07:15] though at 6:30 her partner suggested [07:17] she come with him to the Netivot MADA [07:19] station. [07:22] >> And instead, she felt the need and [07:23] commitment to the kibbutz, and she [07:25] stayed here until she was murdered here [07:27] too. [07:30] >> Yes, Dani, your conclusion, your [07:32] sentence, your message to us in Israel, [07:34] as a society in Israel, as a person who [07:37] was truly there from the start, today, [07:40] three years later. How do we pull [07:44] ourselves together? How do we grow [07:46] stronger? Our strength is society. It [07:51] was possible to feel it and see it [07:53] immediately in the first days after [07:55] October 7th. It is to unite, it is to [07:58] do things together. One for the other, [08:01] and that is what will take us forward [08:03] to a better future. Definitely, [08:05] definitely, I connect with your words, [08:07] Dani Shtekman. Thank you very much, [08:09] MADA paramedic. Thank you. [08:11] >> And congratulations on the new station [08:13] >> Thank you very much [08:14] >> May it be quiet there, may it be quiet, [08:15] M.
